Real Madrid have agreed personal terms with a player they’re now ‘finalising’ an agreement to sign in a deal that will aid Ruben Amorim’s rebuild at Manchester United.
Real Madrid have acted fast this summer to ensure they can go full throttle in the Club World Cup. After a disappointing campaign, Los Blancos hope to bounce back in the revamped CWC and get new manager Xabi Alonso off to a trophy-winning start.
Real Madrid agreed to pay Liverpool £8.4m to secure Trent Alexander-Arnold’s early release. That was despite the fact the right-back was mere weeks away from becoming a free agent.
Centre-back Dean Huijsen has also been banked, with Real Madrid clearly believing it was the rearguard that them let down last year.
And to complete the defensive revamp, Alvaro Carreras is now expected to sign in a major move that aids Man Utd.
Real Madrid already have an agreement on personal terms in place with the 22-year-old Spanish left-back.
According to Marca, Real Madrid had attempted to negotiate a transfer fee with Benfica below his €50m / £42m release clause.
However, Benfica have stood firm and with Real Madrid desperate to feature Carreras in the CWC – which gets underway nine days from now on June 14 – the LaLiga giants have caved.
Marca state Carreras’ transfer is now being finalised after Real Madrid reluctantly agreed to pay full price and trigger Carreras’ clause.
Marca’s reporting was quickly backed up by transfer guru Fabrizio Romano when reporting on X.
The journalist stated: “Real Madrid and Benfica, in contact to reach full agreement on Alvaro Carreras deal as reported by @Marca. He only wants Real Madrid.”
Benfica holding out for maximum value will certainly go down well over at Old Trafford…
Man Utd to generate handy windfall
Man Utd have made a habit of covering their backs when offloading players since INEOS took control.
When selling Carreras to Benfica last summer, United included a buy-back clause as well as a 20 percent sell-on clause.
Given United moved for Patrick Dorgu in January, they do not feel the need to bring Carreras back on board.
As such, the buy-back clause will be ignored, though the sell-on clause will now come into effect.
The Athletic clarified the finer points of the clause, stating United are in line to collect 20 percent of the fee above £5m.
As such, and assuming the total cost of Carreras’ transfer to Real Madrid is £42m as Marca state, Man Utd would receive 20 percent of £37m.
That equates to £7.4m and given Man Utd are heavily reliant on generating capital to make further additions after Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, it’ll be a big help to Amorim and his rebuild.